Spring clips



March 24, 1964 w. H. PARKER 3,125,789

SPRING CLIPS Filed May 8, 1962 INVENTOR W/LL/AM H. PAR/(fl? BY @T QM? United States Patent 3,125,789 SPRING CLIPS William H. Parker, 3930 Aspen St., Philadelphia 4, Pa. Filed May 8, 1962, Ser. No. 193,210 3 Claims. (Cl. 24-66) This invention relates to spring clips.

Various spring clips have heretofore been proposed for holding groups of papers, money and the like but not all of these has proven wholly satisfactory.

it has heretofore been proposed to use the torsional effect of a straight or arcuate piece of wire but clips made in this manner are readily deformed permanently by the stressing Of the material beyond its elastic limit. Such deformed clips were thereafter unsuited for providing the desired clamping action.

Others of the spring clips heretofore available were made of relatively light wire and lacked adequate strength [for repeated gripping.

In the spring clips heretofore proposed in which a coil is employed to provide the closing or gripping force of the clips, the clips frequently lacked adequate capacity between the arms when in gripping position.

In spring clips of the coil type heretofore available, also, the holding capacity of the clips in terms of thickness of a pack of sheets Was not made readily available to the user.

It is the principal object of the present invention to provide a spring clip which will be free from the likelihood of permanently deformation in use, with which a relatively large gripping force can be applied and which has a large and predetermined capacity.

It is a further object of the present invention to provide a spring clip having a plurality of gripping locations, and with a large capacity in terms of thickness of a pack of sheets.

It is a further object of the present invention to provide a spring clip in which the maximum effective capacity is indicated by the spacing of the ends of the legs, which spacing also facilitates the application of the clip to the pack of sheets to be gripped.

It is a further object of the present invention to provide a spring clip having a coil providing the desired force with the legs offset from each other contiguous to the coil,

It is a further object of the present invention to provide a spring clip of the character aforesaid which is made of a single piece of wire.

Other objects and advantageous features of the invention will be apparent from the description and claims.

The nature and characteristic features of the invention will be more readily understood from the following description, taken in connection with the accompanying drawings forming part thereof, in which:

FIGURE 1 is a front elevational view of a spring clip in accordance with the invention;

FIG. '2 is a side elevational view of the spring clip shown in FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is a longitudinal sectional view taken approximately on the line 3-3 of FIG. 2; and

FIG. 4 is a top plan view of the clip shown in FIGS. 1, 2 and 3.

It should, of course, be understood that the description and drawings herein are illustrative merely, and that various modifications and changes can be made in the structure disclosed without departing from the spirit of the invention.

Referring now more particularly to the drawings, in which a preferred embodiment of the invention is illustrated, the spring clip there shown is made of a single piece of wire with a helical coil =10 and opposite legs 11 extending therefrom first in spaced relation (see FIGS. 2 and 4) and then in meeting relation.

3,325,789, Patented Mar. 24, 1964 In order to trace the components of the clip and the manner in which it is made from a single piece of wire one terminal end 15 is straight and is disposed in the coil Ill. Connected to the terminal end 1'5 by a right angle bend 16 a downwardly and rearwardly disposed leg offset-ting portion 17 is provided.

Extending from the leg offsetting portion 17, and connected thereto by a bend 18, a diagonal leg port-ion 19 is provided which is connected by an end return bend 20 to a straight leg portion 21 which as seen in FIGS. 1 and 3 is substantially perpendicular to the axis of the coil 10.

The leg portion 19, the bend 20 and the leg portion 21, as shown in FIG. 2, are in the same plane.

The leg portion 21 is connected by a bend 22 to a leg offsetting portion 23 which extends to the first turn of the coil 10 with which it is integral.

The coil 10 has a plurality of turns, with the longitudinal helical axis in a straight line. At the opposite end of the coil ll), a leg offsetting portion 25, extends therefrom and is connected by .a bend 26 to a straight leg portion 27. The leg port-ion 27, as seen in FIG. 1, extends substantially parallel to the leg portion 21.

The leg portion 27 is connected by a return bend 28 to .a diagonal leg portion 29. The leg portion 29 is connected by a bend 34 to a leg offsetting portion 31 which is in turn connected by a right angle bend 32 to a straight terminal end 33 which extends into the coil 10 in spaced relation at its terminus to the terminus of the terminal end 15.

The leg portions 27 and 29, as shown in FIG. 2, are in the same plane.

It will be noted that the diagonal leg portions 19 and 29, in free positions, bear on each other in spaced relation to the return bends 2d and 225.

The center of curvature of the bend 18 is axially aligned with the leg offsetting portion 25 and the center of curvature of the bend 30 is axially aligned with the leg offsetting portion 23.

It will be noted that the lengths of the leg offsetting portions 17 and 25 and of the leg offsetting portions 23 and 31 provide a spaced location contiguous to the hinge provided by the coil 10 of predetermined size, thus providing for accommodation of a pile or group of papers, or other objects to be held so that the legs 11, for loading at suggested capacity, are in spaced parallel planes.

In order to indicate to the user the suggested capacity, the space between the return bends 20 and 28 is a sufficiently close approximation for this purpose.

The space between the return bends 20 and 28 also facilitates the application of the clip to a plurality of sheets of paper or the like. For this purpose, if the stack is sufliciently rigid, the clip is advanced toward the edge of the stack so that the space between the return bends 2t) and 28 straddles the edge and the clip as it is advanced further is turned to aid in forcing the legs 11. apart, against the force of the spring coil -10. The legs 11 can be slid over the stack until the coil 10 is [close to the edge of the stack.

I claim:

1. A spring clip of a single piece of wire bent to provide a pair of legs and a multiple turn helical hinge coil therebetween comprising a terminal end extending into one end of said coil, said terminal end being connected by a first leg offsetting port-ion to a first leg portion, a second leg portion connected to said first leg portion by a return bend and connected by a second leg offsetting portion to the other end of the coil, said first and second leg portions constituting one of said pairs of legs, said one leg being offset in one direction from said coil by said leg offsetting portions, said one end of the coil being connected by a third leg oifsetting portion to a third leg portion, a fourth leg portion connected to said third leg portion by a return bend, said third and fourth leg portions constituting the other of said pains of legs, said fourth leg being connected by a fourth leg offset-ting portion to a second terminal end, said second terminal end extending into said other end of the coil, said other leg being offset in the other direction from said coil by said leg offsetting portions, the terminus of said terminal ends being in spaced relation in said coil.

2. A spring clip as defined in claim 1 in which the distance between said legs at the offset portions thereof and between said return bends is substantally the same.

3. A spring clip as defined in claim 1 in which at each References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 167,810 Wells Sept. 14, 1875 795,048 Maguire July 18, 1905 883,317 Kindwall Mar. 31, 1908 2,113,991 Larsen Apr. 12, 1938 2,910,749 Parker Nov. 3, 1959 

1. A SPRING CLIP OF A SINGLE PIECE OF WIRE BENT TO PROVIDE A PAIR OF LEGS AND A MULTIPLE TURN HELICAL HINGE COIL THEREBETWEEN COMPRISING A TERMINAL END EXTENDING INTO ONE END OF SAID COIL, SAID TERMINAL END BEING CONNECTED BY A FIRST LEG OFFSETTING PORTION TO A FIRST LEG PORTION, A SECOND LEG PORTION CONNECTED TO SAID FIRST LEG PORTION BY A RETURN BEND AND CONNECTED BY A SECOND LEG OFFSETTING PORTION TO THE OTHER END OF THE COIL, SAID FIRST AND SECOND LEG PORTIONS CONSTITUTING ONE OF SAID PAIRS OF LEGS, SAID ONE LEG BEING OFFSET IN ONE DIRECTION FROM SAID COIL BY SAID LEG OFFSETTING PORTIONS, SAID ONE END OF THE COIL BEING CONNECTED BY A THIRD LEG OFFSETTING PORTION TO A THIRD LEG PORTION, A FOURTH LEG PORTION CONNECTED TO SAID THIRD LEG PORTION BY A RETURN BEND, SAID THIRD AND FOURTH LEG PORTIONS CONSTITUTING THE OTHER OF SAID PAIRS OF LEGS, SAID FOURTH LEG BEING CONNECTED BY A FOURTH LEG OFFSETTING PORTION TO A SECOND TERMINAL END, SAID SECOND TERMINAL END EXTENDING INTO SAID OTHER END OF THE COIL, SAID OTHER LEG BEING OFFSET IN THE OTHER DIRECTION FROM SAID COIL BY SAID LEG OFFSETTING PORTIONS, THE TERMINUS OF SAID TERMINAL ENDS BEING IN SPACED RELATION IN SAID COIL. 